Every new generation of integrated circuits with increased operating frequency, performance and the higher level of large scale integration have underscored the need for back-end semiconductor manufacturing to increase the heat management capability within an encapsulated package. It is well acknowledged that when a semiconductor device becomes denser in term of electrical power consumption per unit volume, heat generated is also increases correspondingly. More and more packages are now designed with an external heat sink or heat slug to enhance the ability of heat being dissipated to the package ambient environment. As the state of the art progresses, the ability to adequately dissipate heat is often a constraint on the rising complexity of package architecture design, smaller footprint, higher device operating speed and power consumption.
Modern consumer electronics, such as smart phones, personal digital assistants, and location based services devices, are packing more integrated circuits into an ever shrinking physical space with expectations for decreasing cost. Contemporary consumer electronics expose integrated circuits and packages to more demanding and sometimes new environmental conditions, such as cold, heat, and humidity requiring integrated circuit packages to provide robust thermal management structures. As more functions are packed into the integrated circuits and more integrated circuits into the package, more heat is generated degrading the performance, the reliability and the life time of the integrated circuits. Numerous technologies have been developed to meet these requirements. Some of the research and development strategies focus on new package technologies while others focus on improving the existing and mature package technologies. Research and development in the existing package technologies may take a myriad of different directions.
One proven way to reduce cost is to use mature package technologies with existing manufacturing methods and equipments. Paradoxically, the reuse of existing manufacturing processes does not typically result in the reduction of package dimensions. Existing packaging technologies struggle to cost effectively meet the ever demanding thermal requirements of today's integrated circuits and packages. Most integrated circuit devices use molded plastic epoxy as an epoxy molding compound (EMC) for protecting package. But the poor heat dissipation property of EMC sometimes leads to device malfunctions.
The plastic ball grid array (PBGA) is a surface mount package in which the input/outputs are arrayed on the backside of the package in the form of various matrices of solder balls. This construction usually limits the electrical and thermal performance. Some applications require improved thermal and electrical performance in the same BGA package outline, which even utilized the same substrate material and design.
The generated heat at the integrated circuit die surface is used to emit to package top (˜30%), package bottom (˜60%) and package side (˜10%) during device operation. To provide a thermal solution, many kinds of technology have been developed. The most representative technology is a heat slug mounting. But a heat slug by itself provides limited improvements in thermal performance. Current thermally enhanced ball grid array (TEBGA) packages use heat slugs to improve thermal performance, but these packages only provide a 15% improvement in thermal performance over a conventional plastic ball grid array (PBGA) package. However, even a TEBGA package is subject to performance problems because it uses EMC, which is low thermal conductivity material.
Thus, a need still remains for an integrated circuit package system providing low cost manufacturing, improved thermal performance, and reduce the integrated circuit package dimensions. In view of the ever-increasing need to save costs and improve efficiencies, it is more and more critical that answers be found to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.